Prepare To Be Dazzled

So, it's gonna be kinda hard for me to write this, because I'm acquainted with one of the guys in this band. Really, he's a friend of a friend, but we email every now and then, and although I don't think he looks at this blog regularly, I just hope he's not offended by anything I write here.

Anyway, if you refer to the piece I wrote about a band called Chopper, you'll kind of get the connection. The guitar player in Bobbidazzler, George Marinelli, was and is a close friend of Pete and George (different George) from Chopper. As a matter of fact, Bobbidazzler George lived next door to Chopper Pete in Redondo Beach in those days. I used to hang out at Pete's place trying to get a little rock star rubbed off on me, and George used to pop in from time to time. All I knew about him then was that he was funny as a motherfucker and was one hell of a guitar player. Within the rather extensive circle of guitar players I hung out with at the time, George was generally excepted as the best of the bunch.

Some of you may have heard of the legendary Starwood club in L.A. in the late 70s. It was one of those punk clubs like the Whiskey and the Masque where a lot of great bands played and a lot of debaucherous shit happened. Well, I saw two shows there: Devo in '78, and Bobbidazzler in '77. Now, nothing against anyone involved, but at the time I was a smartass 20 yr old in a pseudo punk band, having already passed through my prog rock and Steely Dan phase, so these guys didn't seem terribly interesting to me. I heard the album once, and saw their show at the Starwood, but it just seemed slick and kind of cheesy and quirky and terribly 70s, at a time when I happened to be pretty sick of the 70s.

Within a couple of years, I was married and lost touch with many in that circle of friends. Sometime around the mid-80s, someone told me that George Marinelli was now the guitar player in Bruce Hornsby and The Range. Sure as hell, there he was with his big afro (well, not as big as in the 70s) right there on MTV. Damn. "One of those guys really did make it big", I thought. George has since gone on to make a nice living as a session man in Nashville, and for about the last 15 years, he's been Bonnie Raitt's right hand man.

But what of the rest of Bobbidazzler? Oh yeah, there is a bit of back story there. Before they were Bobbidazzler, they were called Ivory, and were a straight ahead prog rock band (with a bit of a jazzy bent). They made one album for Playboy Records in about 1974. This was before George joined. The main guys in both Ivory and Bobbidazzler were the Gullickson brothers, Lance and Grant, who were the vocalists and main songwriters. After both Ivory and Bobbidazzler ran their course, the Gullicksons had one of their songs recorded by Art Garfunkel before Grant went on to become an entertainment lawyer, and Lance married Jimmy Buffet's background singer.

So see? Everything turned out ok, even if rock & roll did take their soul, and a whole lot more.

Mike

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on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 at 5:26 AM.
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I have this record. Found it in a bargain box in Helsinki (Finland - yes, Europe), probably in the early 80's. I still listen to it sometimes, usually in the springtime, after finally having the windows washed (bizarre, but it's just perfect music for that).Oh, yes. I still listen to Supertramp, too.

I have this album at home. I haven't played it in some time because my turntable is down, but I have always enjoyed it. Bargain bin for a dollar. Great songwriting singing and playing on this. I think I need to fix my turntable so I can enjoy this and other music that I haven't heard in a long time.

I liked this album a lot, and I liked the Ivory album too. And if you can find it, there was an album called "Departure" that combined the tunes and personnel from both albums. Of course, I'm a bit prejudiced - I played bass on all 3 albums; all of the Ivory album and some tracks on the other two.

I still have this album, purchased at their show at the Starwood. If there was debauchery going on there in 1977, I sure don't remember it. What I DO remember is fawning over those long haired crooner brothers at the tender age of 18 and trying to get as close to the stage as possible. Ahhh, great memories. Thank God some nice person put the album up on You Tube so I'm not forced to listen to scratchy, distorted album tracks.